


Dance

by CaptainDunsel



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 06:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2379023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainDunsel/pseuds/CaptainDunsel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because the truth was that Jim Kirk was heading out to the school dance with a beautiful girl and Leonard McCoy was in love with his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Ever heard of High School AUs? Really? What a shame.  
> Well, here's one for you, one that I hope you will - regardless of your previous answer - enjoy!

Leonard McCoy sat on the stairs, resting his head on his palms.  
Upstairs, his best friend James Kirk was trying and failing to tie his tie, telling McCoy a story he didn't want to hear. Because the truth was that Jim Kirk was heading out to the school dance with a beautiful girl and Leonard McCoy was in love with his best friend.  
He had never meant for any of that to happen, but Jim was the best thing that had happened to him after moving away from home to attend a school far away from everything he had known - and how could he have just dismissed those unbelievably blue eyes and amazing smile as anything less than one of the most gorgeous sights he had ever seen? Jim was just so easy to be with, and over time their friendship had just gotten easier and more natural. Of course, Jim was a reckless idiot who got himself in unnecessary trouble more often than Leonard had thought was humanely possible - but on the flip side, Jim was someone who managed to make him laugh, with or despite his antics, even if McCoy did roll his eyes at them every time. Jim was incredibly smart for someone that stupid, or incredibly stupid for someone that smart, and _why oh why_ Leonard loved Jim was way beyond him, but that's what it was. He loved that moron and there was no way around it – and McCoy had really tried to find a way around it, over it, under it; anything not to make him lose his best friend. He was sure that would happen if Jim ever found out - but keeping his feelings to himself was getting increasingly difficult with every word Jim said about that girl and how much he was looking forward to the evening - while still struggling with his tie.

" _Oh c'mon!_ " Jim's frustrated groan seeped into Leonard's thoughts, " _It can't_ _be this hard!_ "

McCoy couldn't even count how many times Jim had failed with the tie, but he knew he had had enough.  
"Oh just give me that!" he snapped, getting up from the stairs and upon reaching the other boy he grabbed the tie from his hands. Then he proceeded to tie it with a few swift moves - but he must have pulled it a little too tight, for Jim let out a pained cry.  
"Ow! What the hell?" Jim asked, rubbing his neck.  
"I'm helping you, you infant," Leonard hissed through his teeth as he spun Jim around to show him the results from the mirror and adjust them, "You should be thankful, and get to your date".  
"Okay, okay," Jim replied, prying himself away from Leonard's fingers that were sinking into his shoulders.  
"Thank you," he continued, tone still matching McCoy's hostile one, but in a more questioning manner - he stared at the other boy in disbelief before opening his mouth again.  
"I'll be going now," Jim said, his posture still the same as he descended the stairs, keeping his gaze on McCoy as long as he could before going out the door - Leonard sighed deeply and sat back down to the stairs, burying his face in his hands.

**-:-**

He had no idea how long he had sat there, but the silence around him was interrupted when he heard the door open and close again. Leonard looked up and saw Jim approaching.  
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" he asked, staring intently at McCoy and crossing his arms on his chest.  
"What?" Leonard grunted in response, lifting an eyebrow.  
"Oh don't," Jim said, "Ever since I told you about going to the dance with Emma you've been nothing but grumpy all the time. I mean, I get that you're not going but that was your own choice and you have no right to be angry with me".  
"I'm not angry with you," Leonard replied quietly, matching Jim's gaze with his own.  
"Then what is it?"  
Leonard went quiet - there was just no good answer to that. He didn't want to lie to his best friend but he couldn't exactly blurt out his feelings, especially not in this situation.  
"I don't want to talk about it".  
"Well I do," Jim replied.  
"Because this is not how I want us to be. You're my best friend, Bones, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" he smiled encouragingly, and McCoy felt a small sting in his chest.  
"You should probably go," he remarked quietly - and he could see the moment hurt and anger hit Jim.  
"You know what? _I probably should_ ," he said in a tone most cold, and turned to leave, "Enjoy your evening".  
With that, he was gone, and Leonard didn't know what to do - so he sat there for some minutes before standing up and going down the stairs. In the hall, he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and decided to head home.

**-:-**

At home, McCoy went straight to the living room and slumped down onto the couch. This was stupid, and Jim was stupid, but most importantly, he was stupid.  
He was not prepared to lose his best friend over some stupid feelings he couldn't keep in check - hell, he just needed to try harder, Leonard decided. Because even though every minute around Jim was torture, McCoy was not ready to give that up - even a little Jim was better than no Jim.  
 _His Jim. Not his Jim, Emma's Jim. Maybe just for this night, but with the way she had been eyeing Jim the whole year... maybe forever._  
Leonard didn't know how Jim felt, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know - ignorance was a bittersweet state of being. On the other hand, he was dying to know, but on the other, he felt like he might die if he knew. At least ignorance allowed him that tiny glimmer of - most likely false - hope.

_He wanted to sleep but he just wasn't tired._

There he sat, arms wrapped around himself, his side pressed against the backrest of the couch.  
Briefly he imagined what it would be like to have Jim at his side, watching movies together and feel Jim's laugh resonate in his chest, feel Jim in his arms and warm breath against his skin as they'd eventually fall asleep in front of the TV.  
But he shooed away that thought - no point in making the evening more miserable for him than it already was.

Suddenly Leonard's phone beeped - a text. Slowly McCoy dug it out of his pocket and read the screen; it was from Jim.

_“I'm not having fun_  
 _because I can't stop_  
 _thinking about what's_  
 _going on with you-_  
 _I hope you're happy._ ”

McCoy sighed, burying his head in his hands - then, without a second thought, he dialled the number and lifted the phone to his ear. After a few moments the answer came.  
 _"Hello?"  
_ "No, I am not happy. Because you'd deserve to have the best night of your life, dancing with a beautiful girl, and I should be happy for you. But I can't be, and you know why? _Because I love you_. And you should never fall in love with your best friend, because that ruins everything, like I just did, so there".

There was a silence at both ends of the line - what was there to say? But McCoy decided to end his misery.

"I guess I'll see you at school".  
And with that, he ended the call and threw the phone to the other end of the couch. Now he'd really gone and blew it, hadn't he? _Way to keep your feelings in check, moron.  
_ Leonard pressed the side of his face against the backrest of the couch - part of him hoped he could just close his eyes and have it all be just a bad dream. His phone rang and it vibrated through the cushions - Leonard ignored it. It was probably Jim and even if it wasn't, he wasn't in the mood to talk.

**-:-**

At some point he must have closed his eyes, because a knock on the door made him pry them open. Instead of going to answer the door he remained still, stubbornly staring at his own feet and waiting for whoever was behind the door to go away. But what he got was another knock, a more insistent one. And after ignoring that, a third one - and then

_"Bones?"_

It was so soft, insistent, pleading - or at least so McCoy told himself; why else would he have gone against his better judgement and opened the door? Retaining some of his sense though, he only opened the door halfway.  
Jim stood on the outside, steadying himself with his hand against the doorframe, panting - his jacket was open, his hair windblown and his tie crooked.  
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Leonard asked, eyeing the other boy up and down.  
"You wouldn't answer your phone," Jim simply said with a light tone and a small smile.  
"If you've come to laugh at me you could've waited until the morning," McCoy grunted in return.  
"No," the younger boy said, straightening himself, "And this can't wait".

Before Leonard had time to think what Jim had meant, the boy had launched himself at McCoy, wrapping his arms around Leonard's neck and crashing their lips together to a kiss that took the older boy by surprise - and yet, almost instinctively, his arms snaked around Jim's waist and embraced him tight as if afraid the boy might float away. And Jim kissed his lips, desperate and needy like Leonard was an oasis in the desert.  
As if from a common agreement they moved from the hall to the living room, finding the couch without ever having to break their kiss, and they sat down, McCoy pulling Jim down to straddle him - Jim smiled into the kiss as his hands moved to cup the older boy's cheeks.  
Eventually they were both out of breath, but even if they broke the kiss they didn't part far, shaky hands still holding on to each other - their foreheads were touching, but Jim looked down, refusing to meet McCoy's gaze.  
" _I'm sorry, I'm sorry_ ," he mumbled, his hands sliding down to grab the fabric of Leonard's shirt and fiddle with it, "I tried to have a good time, but I realised you weren't there and I couldn't - _I just couldn't_ , I mean..."  
Finally Jim looked up - Leonard could hardly keep from shivering at the sight of those eyes.  
"I realised something there, Bones. I wasn't as excited about the dance as I said I was, as I _thought_ I was - I tried to be but... If you weren't there, how could I? You're my best friend - more than that, you're... _I..._ I love you, Bones. I do. I didn't know it at first, but when you said it, it just clicked; _that's_ what I'd been feeling, all along. I'm sorry I didn't realize it before, I..."  
"Oh shut up already," McCoy interrupted him with a smirk before pulling Jim into another kiss. This time it was soft and tender, like Leonard wasn't afraid anymore; Jim was there, right in his arms and wasn't about to go anywhere - the thought made him smile into the kiss as he slid his hands under Jim's jacket on his shoulders and removed it. Jim allowed it, letting his hands fall to his sides so the jacket could just slide off. Lips still locked together, McCoy went on to remove Jim's tie, throwing it to the floor next to the jacket. Jim pressed himself tighter against Leonard, burying his fingers among the boy's dark hair - he released his hold as Leonard leant back until he was lying down on the couch, Jim now above him, supported by his hands on both sides of Leonard's chest.  
Slowly they broke the kiss, and looked into each other's eyes. The situation felt so unreal, and yet, so right; like this was how they should have been all along. Jim let out a little laugh, and Leonard smiled fondly at the sight - his hands travelled up and down Jim's arms, still finding it hard to believe that the other boy was really there and this was really happening.  
Jim glanced at McCoy's hands on his arms, and with a cautious smile on his face lowered himself to lie down on top of the boy, continuously checking to see if what he was doing was okay with Leonard - it was, better than okay; so Leonard smiled back, using his hand to gently guide Jim to lay down his head on his chest.

There they lay together, silently enjoying each other's company and trying to comprehend this new stage in their relationship - Leonard wasn't eager to put a name on it; they could figure it all out later. Right now, having Jim there in his arms was enough.

A long while they spent in silence until either spoke.

"I took Emma home before I came here," Jim said, and then sighed.  
"I tried to be a gentleman about it, but... she probably hates me now," he chuckled sheepishly, tracing shapes onto Leonard's chest with his finger.  
"She probably hates both of us," McCoy grinned comfortingly, his thumb stroking the other boy's cheek.  
"Well, as long as you don't," Jim laughed shyly, lifting his head up to look into McCoy's eyes.  
"Hate you? Haven't I just confessed that I love you, you idiot?" Leonard asked with a soft smile. Jim laughed, and lowered his head back onto McCoy's chest.  
"I love you too, Bones".


End file.
